Hey.
Here is a map for CounterStrike:Source that I'm working on. The lighting is crap right now, I just threw some lights quickly. Some of the textures still need work too and I have to add in all my prop models and stuff, but here is where I'm at right now. C&C would be great :)

I know these are early shots, but it is kind of hard to judge the finished atmosphere. Source maps are all about the polishing touches; without them, they're basically HL1 maps with higher res textures. Which is what these shots look like so far; I think there's a lot of potential here, but to really get it looking like a Source map you'll have to add the dust, particles, debris, and just a lot more detail in general. Dramatic lighting (a sunset would be great) will really help your geometry stand out too. This is where Source outshines a lot of the competition.

It's certainly not bad, but there is nothing too exciting about it so far either. Definitely keep us updated!

Synthesizer

09-23-2005, 05:33 PM

Thanks for the comments. Yeah, right now I'm just getting the overall look right before I start adding lots of details. And think I will have a sunset, for these shots I was just trying out a sky panorama that I made. I think the lighting will be a bit closer to this: http://img196.imageshack.us/my.php?image=prisonv4000031pq.jpg
It's an earlier version of this.

TheRedemption

09-23-2005, 05:58 PM

hmm im not quite sure if i follow this right, so you have a prison and an outside area? well one suggestion i have is that the prison is too bright, think riddick excape from butcher day nice and dirty, im sure you were heading in that direction anyway but...

requiem2d

09-23-2005, 06:17 PM

Source maps are all about the polishing touches; without them, they're basically HL1 maps with higher res textures.

Couldn't have said it any better. Good luck with this map, you have a good start, just need to follow through :D

AlexanderDavidKolakowski

09-23-2005, 06:45 PM

Hey rad stuff. You must have gone to an awesome school with teachers that really knew their stuff. not to mention handsome classmates!:thumbsup:

Synthesizer

09-24-2005, 03:02 AM

Yes, the lighting right now is nothing like what the final will be.

The classmates weren't too bad, just this one guy that sat up at the front, on the left, he was pretty bad:D

xX_eXiGe_Xx

09-24-2005, 08:30 AM

as a specialized hl2/css mapper, i say: Looks great but needs some more polishing.
You can add allot of more details, but be wawre of HOW you you add them.
Read these tutorials about optimaztion if you want to have allot of models/brushes without lagging the game:

Good luck.
(i read them all when i was outside at the sun, man the sumemrholliday was totaly great)

the_podman

09-28-2005, 07:33 PM

perhaps some more static meshes to establish where and when we actually are. Right now, you've got the generic barrels and dirty walls. Looks great so far(always cool to see "ingame" levels), but I think it's short of some unique props and dynamic lighting, but I know you haven't gotten to the lighting yet.

-pod

Synthesizer

09-29-2005, 01:54 AM

Thanks for the links xX_eXiGe_Xx :)

Thanks for the nice comments pod, but what do you mean by this?
perhaps some more static meshes to establish where and when we actually are.
Does that mean I need more screenshots, or that I need better world geometry? Also, about unique props, do you have any ideas? Being that prisons are usually quite bare its hard to come up with ideas :scream:

Does anyone have some ideas of what I could do for the lighting? I should have an update in a few hours.

the_podman

09-29-2005, 02:32 AM

Good point. Prison's are pretty bare. :) hmmm, maybe some personal artifacts inside a few of the cells. Books, girly mags, etc. For the outside, hmmm, maybe some statues, some grafiti.

It this an actual place or is it made up?

Oh, by static meshes, I meant geometry created in an external app like Maya/Max and imported as props/world geo into the engine. Basically, the world geo that's not created with BSP brushes.

Wish I could help you more. It's a tough one.. :)

-pod

the_podman

09-29-2005, 02:38 AM

Just came across this pretty cool picture of a prison in Seoul, Korea. It had some pretty cool "hanging lights" and some interesting ceiling architecture that would make for some nice shadows.

I've attached it.

-pod

Synthesizer

09-29-2005, 03:13 AM

Thanks for the ideas and pic:) Some of the bits are based off the old Harlem prison and others are inspired by things that I see here and there.

Synthesizer

09-29-2005, 05:16 AM

Ok, I'm just trying some stuff out, so dont mind the void ;) Please let me know what you think of this redesign of the cell block area.

That's looking great, Synth! Now you've got some interesting shapes in there. When you finish the lighting, it should look really nice. Does HLSource support light flicker? You could make one of those lamps do that I suppose.

:)

Ferny84

09-29-2005, 10:24 PM

Damn, Simons got a widescreen monitor.

:(

<kicks 10 year old compaq monitor>

Synthesizer

09-30-2005, 01:32 AM

Thanks pod. Source does support flickering lights, I'll check that out :)

Actually I dont have a widescreen monitor ;) I'm sure my monitor is worse then yours. HL2 lets you run in letterbox though, so the there is some missing from the top and bottom, but I dont even notice it when I'm playing.

Synthesizer

10-23-2005, 04:44 AM

Well, this post is mostly to reassure you that, yes, I am still alive. Here are a few new models. I think I'm pretty much done the prop models now, they just need textures. I'm coming back to work on this full time now, so stay tuned for updates.

Nice, glad to hear the project isn't dead. Are the buildings just BSP brushes created in the editor? (I'm not very familiar with mapping for source engine)

Synthesizer

10-23-2005, 06:35 AM

Yeah, the buildings are bsp brushes made in Hammer (HL2's editor) and the prop models are made in Maya.

Synthesizer

12-21-2005, 06:15 AM

Umm, what I meant to say was "I got a freelance job, so this is going on the backburner for a while." :rolleyes: Hopefully everyone is still subscribed this thread....

Anyways, here are some updates. I redesigned a fair bit of it, so there are some pieces just floating in the air and lots of areas that are in pretty rough shape. I'm going to be using HDR for this map, so I have to play around some more with the specular amounts and lighting, which is quite different then for the regular stuff. Hopefully you can get an idea of where this is going from the pics. I believe (and hope) that this is the last major change. From now on I will just be working on finishing this up. And comments and critics are welcome. Hopefully I will have a few more updates this month (for real this time :D)

I still think you should put some kind of pipe network or grated ceiling structure just before the top of the ceiling. You could make "sections" and junction peices within Maya as static meshes and snap them into some kind of network like lego peices. Reason being is that you are not taking full advantage of Half Life 2's awesome realtime lighting effects. You can get some really cool shadow patterns that would really set the mood of the prison if you place a light source above a grated metalic ceiling structure.

I really like the lighting you've got in there so far, though. Good luck on the job, btw. :)

Synthesizer

01-01-2006, 01:20 AM

Thanks for the tips podman! I've got 1 piece made so far (Christmas is quite a busy time :p). I am really liking the shadows idea. I'll post a pic tomorrow and hopefully make some more pieces soon.

I also noticed that for some reason the Source engine no longer supports dynamic shadows with DX9 after some sort of update. Running in DX8 works fine, except for HDR doesn't work with it :argh: Hopefully they get it fixed soon, although I'm sure it will be done when my map is done.

retardedmonkey

01-01-2006, 05:42 AM

Synthesizer looking good man! It looks very nice and crisp, youve got some skills here. Congrats on getting a freelance job there you really deserve it. Oh yeah I dont know if you will figure this out yourself but I am retardedmonkey from bms too...hehe. Anyway keep it up man!

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